2017 Small Business Social Media [Research]

2017 Social Media and Inc 500 Explained

Were you one of the 82% of small businesses that used at least one form of social media in 2016?

If you’re like the Inc 500, you’re investing in a variety of social media platforms.

BUT…

You still haven’t figured out how to maximize your social media return.

Let’s examine research by UMass Dartmouth on social media and the Inc 500 to see how your business stacks up and where you can improve your social media marketing. (Note: 2017 research reflects 2016 data.)

Top 7 Social Media Platforms Inc 500 Businesses Use

Small businesses kept their social media usage constant in 2016.

No surprise.

Social media is a marketing mix must-have.

But it’s no longer the high-growth shiny new thing.

While small businesses need social media, they haven’t figured out how to maximize their investment to yield ROI.

Inc 500 Use of Social Media In 2016 via UMass Dartmouth-Chart

94% of Inc 500 businesses used LinkedIn in 2016

LinkedIn remained the Inc 500’s most popular social media platform for the fifth consecutive year.

From a small business perspective, this makes sense. Many executives view LinkedIn as the only professional social media network. It’s your rolodex on steroids. Every small business management team must leverage its connections.

Further LinkedIn Publishing broadens your content reach and positions you as a thought leader.

88% of Inc 500 businesses used Facebook in 2016, up 6 percentage points from 2015

Facebook continues to be a major digital force that all companies regardless of size must use.

UMass Darthmouth’s Inc 500 research is consistent with Buffer’s 2016 State of Social Media research. Buffer’s research revealed that small businesses continue to post on Facebook at the same or higher levels despite reduced Newsfeed visibility.

53% of Inc 500 businesses used Google+ in 2016

Google+ usage by the Inc 500 declined 11 percentage points

Google+ is the only social media platform Inc 500 businesses (53%) use more than Fortune 500 businesses (40%). This may be attributable to the fact that Inc 500 businesses have left their social media strategies in place while better-resourced Fortune 500 companies are more proactive with their social media strategies.

48% of Inc 500 businesses used YouTube in 2016

YouTube usage declined slightly for small businesses.

YouTube is under-utilizedby small businesses. A number of small businesses, notably Blendtec (the company behind the Will It Blend videos) and Orabrush, used YouTube to grow their businesses.

Video is a white-hot trend that due new social media options, such as Facebook, continues to explode.

Unfortunately, video can be costly and requires specialized skills.

Convince and Convert’s Jay Baer tested low-cost YouTube videos with his series Jay Today. (Note: Baer ended the series after 149 episodes.)

Interestingly, Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes and her UMass Dartmouth team consider blogs a form of social media. (BTW: I agree!)

Given small businesses’ limited resources it’s surprising that more Inc 500 businesses don’t invest in blogging. Your blog should be integrated into your content and social media marketing plans. Even more important, this can be accomplished without corporate-speak or sounding promotional.

As owned media, blogs aren’t subject to algorithm changes or disappearing overnight like third party social media networks.

RECOMMENDED READING:

2017 Small Business Social Media In The Digital Marketing Mix

In 2016, Inc 500 executives thought social media had the biggest potential for yielding increased sales over the next year. Note: It’s not clear which category these executives place Facebook advertising.

About a quarter of the Inc 500 can track less than 1% of their sales to social media.

About one-tenth of the Inc 500 can track more than 10% of their sales to social media

About a third of the Inc 500 can track any results.

There’s a disconnect between what’s tracked and the information executives need to manage social media activities. A company blog would improve these results.

59% of Inc 500 executives are concerned about Return on Investment (aka: ROI).

52% of Inc 500 executives are concerned about resources or time devoted to social media.

41% of Inc 500 executives are concerned about social media analytics.

2017 Small Business Social Media Strategies

As social media becomes a more important element within the Inc 500’s marketing mix, companies are documenting their strategies. In addition to ensuring employees understand what needs to be done, stated goals require related metrics and the means to track them.

21% of Inc 500 companies have a stand-alone social media plan, up 9 percentage points from last year.

50% of Inc 500 companies have a documented social media strategy incorporated into their marketing or business plan, up 17 percentage points from last year.

23% of Inc 500 companies have no documented social media plan. This is a problem. Without a documented plan there’s no accountability for handling or measuring social media results.

RECOMMENDED READING:

2017 Small Business Social Media Policies

Since social media activity may extend beyond corporate accounts, the Inc 500 businesses have documented their social media policies. This enables employees to know what they can and can’t post about their company on social media.

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